I seem to be having trouble with this. I'm new to buddhism, just recently
starting reading up on it the past several months, although technically I've
been exposed to it for many years through a variety of tv shows, movies, etc.
My favorite was Kung Fu: The Legend Continues. Don't know why, but the scenes
with the shoalin temple and buddhist monks were always my favorite.
Although I haven't come right out and said to my family (except for my sister)
that I'm learning about Buddhism, they've seen the books and notes I leave to
myself pertaining to it. So far, it has not been encouraging. They kind of give
a disgusted look or a groan when they see it that suggests that they are not
happy about it. They are catholics. I'm an atheist (which they've known for
years). When I finally told my sister that I'd like to visit a temple in town,
she got disqusted and said "why? You'll never go with me to my church, but
you'll go to a buddhist church?" I didn't know what to say, so I told her the
truth, that I didn't feel anything for catholicism anymore, and that it didn't
feel like the right religion for me. She wasn't pleased.
Then today I was having a chat with a co-worker and boss at work. I get along
great with both of them, known them for several years. My co-worker mentioned
she and her husband were atheists, so I told her I was too. We both got a kick
out of it realizing that we never knew that about each other. Then I mentioned
to her that I had been reading up on buddhism lately, and she gave the same
kind of groan I've been hearing from my family. My boss just sort of gave a
look of shock and disbelief, didn't say anything. I couple of weeks or so
before that, I was discussing various books with another boss that we like to
read, and I mentioned one I'd been reading called the Peaceful Warrior. He
asked what it was about so I told him, and when I mentioned it has a buddhist
theme to it, he gave a funny look.
What's funny about all of this is that I've always figured buddhism to be one
of the most revered and highly respected forms of philosophy and religion on
earth. Even growing up I felt that way. When I go online to Yahoo Answers R&S
forum to ask a question pertaining to it, I haven't had any bad replies over a
single question, and if any of you have ever been on there, you know they can
be harsh sometimes in that section. So it really threw me for a loop seeing all
these crazy reactions from people I know.
Did any of you get these same reactions from the people you knew when you were
first learning about buddhism?
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